Tis the season
by YJV
Summary: It's breeding season again, and Sabo has his work cut out for him if he doesn't want to lose the bet! His brothers, Ace and Luffy delight in his loss, while Sabo just sighs and complies, he knew it was coming anyways. This is going to be one Long season indeed! Ruff ASL. Animal/bird AU
1. Chapter 1

**This is a bird AU where the ASL are Ruffs. A type of wading bird with 3 types of males.**  
 **** please read, important if you don't want to get lost while reading.**

 **1) territorial: black and/or red in colour. This is the dominant male who are the leaders of sorts. Common**  
 **2) Satellite: Mostly white. do not have territory but stays with the Territorial male. Territorial male tolerates and even mounts them as it attracts females**  
 **3) Faeder: Rarest type. Looks like female. Brown with stripes of yellow/white. Sneaks past and/or distracts the territorial male and copulates with females. Will also mate with the other Two males as a mating strategy.**

 **The other 2 basically leeches off the territorial male's territory and attempts to mate with the females. The territorial male allows them to stay as they attract more females with their homosexual acts. the other Two male types will also readily mate with faeder, despite knowing its gender.**

 **Lek: Area of territory owned by the territorial Male**

 **I Love the ASL brothers and the pairings XD This idea came to me when I was reading about the Ruffs. If you wish, you can search them up to read more in depth about them.**

 **Ok, on with the story!**

* * *

 _Peck._  
 _Peck._  
 _Peck._  
 _Peck._

He twitched.  
"Sabo!"

 _Peck_.  
He rolled away from the annoying assaults, intent on not getting his precious sleep intruded on.  
"Sabo!"

 _Peck peck_.  
He grumbled and swatted at the infernal thing. It didn't let up.  
"Saaabbbboooo~!"  
 _Peck peck peck._

"UGH, what?!" Sabo jumped up, leaves fluttering, feathers flying, wings flapping and brown plumage fluffed up, glaring at the source of interruption of his beauty sleep.

"Woah, easy there, Sabo." Ace hopped back a step, wings flaring.

Sabo's expression lost its anger and he sighed. "Why in god's name did you wake me up at such an ungodly hour? It's barely dawn!" He grumbled in irritation, ruffling his feathers.

"Because!" Luffy chirped happily- _excitedly_ , hopping from one feet to the other.

Sabo rolled his eyes, seriously? How did Luffy get to be a Satellite Ruff? He sure didn't act like one.

Sabo fixed one ice-blue eye on Ace. "And why are you even up so early, Ace? Normally you sleep till mid-morning."

Ace and Luffy glanced at each other, and then back at Sabo.  
"Sabo, have you forgotten what today is?" Ace asked slowly.

Sabo frowned, confused. "Um...well, what is today?" He questioned sheepishly.

At that, Luffy started jumping up and down brimming with excitement, his beak curved in a huge grin.

"Today's the start of breeding season! And I'm finally old enough!"

Sabo stiffened.

Oh _hell_.

Breeding season.

How could he have forgotten?! Now that he looked at his brothers, sure enough, their magnificent plumage was even more vibrant than usual, signifying the start of the breeding season.

* * *

Breeding season was a bet amongst the brothers, to see who could attract and copulate with the most females, as was their purpose during breeding season; and Sabo knew that no matter what, he would lose.

After all, he is a Faeder. A rare type of male Ruff with no territory and looked like a female all the time, which female would be attracted to that?

Granted, he was a sneaker bird, but still, why did he agree to the bet in the first place? Ugh, Sabo groaned inwardly. Last breeding season was a bet between him and Ace as Luffy was still not ready yet.

That's right, last season was the season that the bet started, after they had reached maturity and figured out their male types. It was a shock to both him and his brothers when even though Ace developed into his bright red and black plumage; he had instead retained his dull colours. They were honestly getting worried as Sabo still didn't change. That was when they found out from Marco, Ace's friend and a Great Blue Heron.

Marco knew a lot of things in this animal sanctuary and told the brothers not to worry. He informed them that there was actually a rare, third type of male Ruff called a faeder and that was exactly what Sabo was. Sabo, Ace and Luffy were then given a run down on the behaviour of faeders during breeding season just around the corner and boy, was that one hell of a conversation. By the end of it, Sabo was blushing red and trying to hide while the information had sparked the idea of a game with Ace, which led to the catastrophe that was last season.

God, last season was not pleasant for him, not at all, he lost the bet and the consequence...he shivered a little. Not from fear, oh no , he could never _fear_ his Brother, but from reliving that memory of his utter humiliation. He scrunched his eyes shut as he caught sight of Ace's smirk.

* * *

He felt Ace sidle up to his side and Whisper in his ear, "I'm looking forward to my _rewards_ again, Sabo. "

He chuckled as Sabo blushed. 'That sadistic horn dog, uh, bird!' He inwardly seethed. 'Enjoying the memory at my expense.'

Sabo knew that either way, he would lose. He had no territory to call his own. In fact, this Lek belonged to Ace. He was the one who fought it over by asserting his Dominance over other territorial Ruffs with his brilliant red and black ruffs , and Sabo and Luffy could stay as they were his brothers. That and Luffy is a Satellite, useful for attracting females and so is tolerated, while he himself is a faeder, rare and much appreciated and lucky to have around to attract females, considering how rare Faeders are, especially amongst the Ruffs that were in captivity here in this sanctuary.

Should he just give up? No, no he can't. There were consequences to giving up this mating game as they called it. Then again, whether he lost or gave up, he is still screwed, literally and figuratively.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when a white ball of fluff barrelled into him and he fell backwards with an "Oomph!" His breath left him in a whoosh from the force of the blow.

"Luffy!" He gasped. Luffy was physically larger than him, considering his genetic make up, so he was also heavier.

"Ne, Sabo." Sabo glanced down at Luffy who was perched on top of him, Ace snickering from the side instead of helping, that jerk.

When Luffy was sure that he had Sabo's attention, he proceeded to ask, "So if Sabo loses again this year, does this mean I get a turn with Sabo too?"

Upon hearing that, Sabo exploded in a multitude of red, as the implications of Luffy's words set in.

"..." Sabo sputtered and for once, was at a loss for words, so he simply flopped back down onto the grass with a tired sigh.

After recovering from his laughing fit, Ace _kindly_ answered for him.

"Yes Luffy, yes you do. And judging from the looks of things now, you will get your chance ~"

"Yay!" Luffy cheered as he hopped off of Sabo and proceeded to prance around in joy.

* * *

Sabo shot the eldest of them a glare from his spot on the ground. Ace caught his Glare and shrugged, fluffing his feathers. "What? You can't deny what's going to happen. In fact..." here, Ace's face took on a mischievous grin. "That position right there is perfect..." Ace started to step closer to Sabo, intending on trapping him where he laid.

With a yelp, Sabo shot up off the ground and hopped back, wings a flutter.

"Nope, nope nope nope!" He cried, "I haven't even had breakfast yet! Keep your hormones in, geez!" With that, Sabo flitted over to the small puddle where he quenched his thirst, before going to hunt for his meal, trying hard to avoid his brothers' eyes that were trained on him.

He sighed, this is going to be a loooonnnggg season, that was for sure.

* * *

 **First chapter done~ please rate and review~^^ I would love to hear your thoughts! XD**


	2. Chapter 2

**I tried my best with the mating scene kinda hard when they are birds with different anatomy, but please forgive any weirdness, thank you!**

* * *

Chapter 2: Lessons

* * *

As Sabo busied himself finding grub to fill his belly, Ace set about trying to teach Luffy the ropes. Ace smirked to himself as he eyed Sabo from afar. "Ace, why do you have this sorta scary look?" With that, he quickly schooled his expression. He would get that piece of fine feathers later, right now; he had a more pressing matter at hand. He had a mission, to instruct Luffy on the rules of the breeding season, and to train him in the fine art of _mounting._

That's right, it was a delicate technique, and he would have to teach it to the one person he had deemed impossible to teach. Sabo had told him, Luffy was not impossible to teach, he just had a short attention span. Ace mentally scoffed, yeah right, more like a one-track mind.

"Alright, Luffy," Ace began slowly. "As you know, it's mating season and-" "I know right?! Isn't it exciting Ace?! Are you excited?! I'm excited!"

"Would you shut up and listen?!" Ace smacked Luffy's head with a wing. "Ooooowwwww….Ace, why did you do that?" Luffy pouted. "Just listen, you worm-brain!" Ace sighed, and _no,_ Worm-brain was true. Luffy liked meat a lot; and what in their diet had the most meat? Worms. Ace swore that Luffy is secretly a bird of prey, what with him wanting meat all the time when there were delicious berries all around. Ace sighed again.

"Ok, listen. As I was saying, mating season is but a short period compared to the rest of the year, so, every second is an opportunity." Luffy tilted his head to the side, and Ace would have gushed cute if he wasn't talking about a serious topic, so he settled to yell it mentally. "We have to attract females, who are called Reeves. We do that by dancing, which I will show you later. The most important part, is the mounting of a female. Get that into your head, Mounting."

Luffy nodded eagerly, "Right! Mounting!" he chirped. Ace sighed, "Right…do you even know what the term 'mounting' means?" Luffy hopped up and down excitedly. "Yes of course! What you did with Sabo last season!" At that, Ace smirked, re-living the memories of that sweet, _sweet_ moment. He shook his head quickly, _Focus Ace, Focus._ "Right, that. But watching is not the same as doing. So, I'm gonna teach you."

At that, Luffy went on an all new high. He bounced around like he was rubber. "Yay! Ace is gonna teach me, Ace is gonna teach me! So, so, I get to mount, Ace, I gedda?" A tick mark throbbed on Ace's head and he once again, whacked Luffy's head, half to get him to shut up, and half to get him to stop that bouncing. Luffy went down in a flurry of feathers. "Aaacccceeee!" He groaned.

"Like hell you get to mount, Lu! With the females, sure, but with me, hell no!" At that, Luffy pouted, still face-planting. "Aww...but you said I could learn!"

"Yeah, learn through experience that I'm going to show you! Uh duh! What, did you think you were gonna know immediately what to do when you first hop on?"

"Well, yeah, that's generally the-" At that, Ace scoffed. "Mounting is delicate, Luffy. If you are not careful, you could hurt the other, and that won't be pretty. You don't want to hurt them, do you? You wouldn't want to hurt Sabo, would you?"

Luffy shook his head vigorously, beak clamped shut.

* * *

Ace nodded, "Right, so first, you have to know the signal to mount. If you mount prematurely, that's a no-no. You could get thrown off and/or rejected. If you force, well…that's dastardly right there. Anyway, the signal is that the other bird will crouch for you."

Luffy cocked his head, "Like this?" He then proceeded to crouch low. Ace circled Luffy's form slowly, inspecting. "You do not need to crouch down so low, spread your feet apart, and then you can better able to balance both of our weights. Lean downwards a little, so your tail sticks up a bit. You can spread your wings for more balance."

Luffy did as instructed and Ace nodded approvingly. "Right, when you see this, it's the signal to mount." He circled around to Luffy's behind. "Now, when you mount, you don't just jump on like a freaking canon ball, that is counted as aggressive. You can flutter upwards to land gently on their backs, or you can climb on. Climbing's trickier."

With that said, Ace slowly climbed on to Luffy's back, one talon at a time. "Now when you climb up, you want to approach them from the side, not from directly behind them. Be mindful of where you step, you don't want to accidentally poke them or injure them with your claws. Do not, absolutely do not, curl your feet, you hear that, Lu?"

Luffy nodded, shifting slightly as he adjusted to the added weight. "Yup!" He grinned. Ace took that as the signal to continue. "So, you must find the right position to balance yourself, not too far up that you can't reach, but not too low down that when you shift backwards to mate, you fall off. I find the best position to be at the wings." He placed his feet, spread apart on the crook where Luffy's wings met his body, the shoulders.

"Then, the other will move their tail feathers aside, so you can reach their cloaca."

Luffy's face took on a look of confusion, "Huh? What's the c-clo-coa-coa-kia?"

"The cloaca, Luffy." Ace sighed. "It's where you pee and shit from. But also where your sperm come out, and where the other's will be too. Basically, it's where you mate."

"Oh. So…it's the swelly-thing!"

Ace sighed once more, "Yes, Lu, the swelly thing. Now, move your feathers aside."

Luffy shifted, "Um…which way?"

"Anyway!" Ace gritted out. "Geez, Sabo wasn't as bad as you, asking so many questions!"

"But Aceeee!" Luffy cried out, "You wanted to teach me, and Sabo's different! He knows about all this stuff!"

Ace rolled his eyes, "Yeah, and you're supposed to know too! Now move your feathers aside!"

Luffy grumbled, "Yeah, yeah…" He shifted his tail feathers to the left.

Ace then proceeded to bend down from the right. "Now, when the tail feathers have been moved aside, you want to balance yourself such that you can reach down from the side. You have to bend your body downwards such that your cloaca touches theirs."

Luffy felt Ace shift around on his back, before bending backwards as he had said, showing superb balancing skills, and then Ace's cloaca touched his.

* * *

Luffy gasped. Th-this was-! This sensation! It was unlike anything he had ever felt before, and he loved it, he wanted _more._

Luffy's mind was on cloud 9, and Ace's voice felt like it was miles away, warmth was rushing and spreading throughout his body and it was sending him into euphoria.

"You now have to rub against them, and let your body handle the rest." Luffy barely registered his big brother's words as he moaned when Ace started rubbing against him. He didn't want him to stop, ever!

" If you think that they are getting uncomfortable…" Uncomfortable? Who would find _this_ uncomfortable? This was heaven!

"You can rub your beak into their neck to help them relax." Luffy crooned in bliss while Ace brushed against his ruffles. He threw his head back with a moan as he felt Ace release into him. This is mating? Oh, then he would gladly mate with his brothers!

"Of course, you can be affectionate but not too affectionate, that's reserved for me and Sabo only, got it, Lu?" Ace's slightly husky yet sharp voice cut into his pleasure and he nodded, his head momentarily cleared.

"After that, the mating is done and you can dismount." Ace hopped off, chest heaving, cooling down. Luffy whined at the loss of contact and stumbled back to reality as he staggered, trying to regain balance. He sighed when he fell against Ace and was supported back up. Luffy rubbed his head into Ace's side, coming down from his high.

* * *

Ace still sported a blush and Luffy panted slightly. "This…" Luffy gulped. He lifted his head to look his brother in the eye. "That was amazing!" Luffy's eyes shined and sparkled. Ah, now he couldn't wait to mate with Sabo! It is going to be so awesome, that was for sure!

Ace chuckled, draping a wing around Luffy's back. "Glad you liked it, Lil' bro. It means I did a good job." He laughed.

"Shouldn't you be teaching him how to dance, Ace?" Sabo's voice cut through their happiness, scaring them from the suddenness and they jumped.

Ace whirled around, how long had Sabo been standing there?!

"Later!" Ace griped, "Geez, I'm teaching Lu important stuff here! Dancing's the easy part, Sabo!"

"Sabo!" Luffy hopped up to his other brother. "Have you had breakfast already?"

Sabo nodded, "Yes, I have Lu; and Ace, at least teach Lu the basics of a mating dance."

Luffy pouted, "But…dancing's boring! I would much rather mate with my big brothers! Sabo, let's mate! I wanna mate with Sabo too!"

At that, Sabo flustered, wings flapping, "L-Lu! That's-! N-not-!"

Ace bonked Luffy on the head with his beak. "Idiot, that's the bet! If we manage to mate with more females, then the one who has the most number wins, and gets to mate with Sabo, while the loser has to suffer through the agony of watching and not being able to get in on the action!" He snickered.

"Hahh…?! But Acceeee!" Luffy and Ace proceeded to bicker over the fairness of the bet while Sabo simply sighed and tried to hide his beet-red face behind his wing. Why had he agreed to this bet again? Oh, right, because he was too competitive and wouldn't go down without a fight when challenged, leading to him impulsively, against his better judgement, agree to this bet; something he was starting to regret ever being a part of if he was going to be treated as a prize by his dear brothers. Then again, it was his fault for brazenly putting himself in the line of fire and offering, _suggesting_ , that idea. Woe is him.

* * *

 **Done! Please rate and review! 3**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Hey~ I'm back after so long! Sorry, I was very busy. QwQ Anyway, I recently toyed with the idea of hybrids, or even fantasy things with the ASL as the focus. I wonder if I should make this story part of a series of hybrid/action/ magic stories. Please give me your opinions~~ Now, on with the story~!**_

* * *

Chapter 3: Dancing

* * *

Sabo's eye twitched as he watched the bickering between his brothers get louder and louder.

"You moron! You aren't going to get any females at this rate!"

"Eeehhhh?! I'm not a moron, Ace is! Ow!"

"Hah! That's for calling me a moron, you little piece of worm! Yow!"

"That's for pecking me! You are just jealous I will do better than you, you old- Ow ow ow!"

"Don't you dare peck at me!"

"Ace, you meanie!"

Ok. He drew the line at bodily harm. Barging his way in between the glaring match his brothers were having, he used his wings to push Luffy and Ace apart.

"That's enough! We are losing daylight! It's almost afternoon, and Luffy still hasn't learnt all the ropes yet!"

Luffy jumped back and stuck out his tongue. "Yeah! Ace is being a big bully!"

"Why you-!"

 _Whack. Whack._

"Ow! Sabo!"

"Gah! Fuck!"

Sabo glared at Ace. "That's quite enough, Ace." He turned to Luffy. "Don't antagonize him, Luffy."

The two of them grumbled, fluffing their ruffled feathers.

* * *

Sabo sighed. "Right now, Luffy needs to learn the mating dance, to attract females."

Luffy brightened. "Oh! Oh! Oh! Is it that jumping and wing fluffing that I see Ace doing?"

Sabo nodded and Luffy giggled. "Ooohhh…shishishi! Ace looked stupid doing that."

Ace's tail flared. "Haaahhhh?!"

"Eek!" Luffy ducked behind Sabo, futile as it was.

Sabo chuckled, shaking his head. "Lu, you have to learn that dance too, and Ace will teach you."

"Huh? Me?" Sabo huffed, "Yes, you. You are a Territorial, and Luffy is a Satellite, so of course he has to learn from you."

Luffy pouted, "Ahh? But I want Sabo to teach me! Teach me Sabo, teach me!" Luffy jumped and pranced around Sabo, chanting.

Sabo chuckled once more, "Well, it looks like you are well on your way to being a great dancer." Luffy beamed. Sabo rubbed a wing to his head, embarrassed. "I'm sorry, Luffy. My mating tactics doesn't really involve dancing, but more of stealth and opportunities."

Luffy tilted his head, and blinked. "I don't really get it, but dance, Sabo, dance!"

Sabo flushed. "Luffy! I don't know if I can-"

A red and black wing draped over his back. "Aw, c'mon, Sab, surely you can afford a little _show._ After all, Luffy learns best from watching and doing things first hand."

Sabo glared at Ace, "Then doesn't that apply to you as well Ace? You are more suited to teach Luffy how to dance considering you actually _Dance._ "

* * *

Then an idea sparked into Sabo's head. He ducked past Ace's wing and grinned, a spark of mischief in his eyes that immediately had Ace wary. "Oh Luffy~~!" He sing-songed.

Luffy came bounding up. "Yeah Sabo?"

He eyed Ace and Luffy. "Why don't you two have a little, competition to see who can out-dance the other."

Luffy's eyes lit up, "You are right~ Let's do it Ace! I can beat you for sure!"

Ace, not one to back down, rose to the bait. "Ha. Ha. Ha. Dream on, little bro, you can never beat me!"

"I can too!" Luffy cried, jumping up and down and flapping his wings. "Wait! How do we know who danced better?"

"Well, of course, I will judge the dance." Sabo replied, lifting a wing. "But Ace should go first."

"What?! Why?!" Ace squawked.

At this, Sabo giggled behind his wing, "Why, to show Luffy how it's done of course!"

Ace smirked, "Well of course!"

With that, he stepped in front of Sabo, a confident grin on his beak.

* * *

Spreading his red and black wings, he fluffed out his plumage and started to dance. Twisting and turning, and flaring his wings, Ace's dance would have surely enticed many a female ruffs if they were within the vicinity. Sabo was entranced. His eyes never strayed from Ace as he danced, framed against the light of the sun shining into the enclosure.

Sabo swallowed, not willing to tear his eyes away even when Ace finished his dance and Luffy took over his spot.

Sabo was not prepared.

If he was dying when Ace danced, the Luffy's dance killed him.

Luffy twisted and turned unlike anything he had ever seen, his happy chirps was like an arrow through the heart. Each one capturing him and mesmerising him even more. Was Luffy always this flexible? Wow, who knew he could bend like that? Was this really his first dance? He was a natural!

The backlit sunrays only served to bathe Luffy in an ethereal glow, his white feathers gleaming and giving him an angelic appearance.

When he was done, his wings once again tucked at his side and he was panting a little, unused to the energy expenditure, Sabo's beak was still open, his eyes wide, a sound struggling to burst forth from his throat.

Ace was in a similar state, but he was able to get over it and burst out, "What the doves, Luffy?! Who did you take dance lessons from? Were you cheating? You were so cheating! You knew how to dance beforehand!"

Luffy frowned and pouted, "Muuuu~! Meanie Ace! I didn't cheat! Tell him, Sabo! I did good right? Did I win? Did I? Did I?"

Sabo struggled to regain his bearings, he blinked, once, twice, thrice. His beak clamped shut with an audible clack as Ace and Luffy argued in the background.

"What? You didn't win, you idiot!"

"Meeeaaann! I so did!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Sabo!"

As one, they turned to him and towered over him.

"Tell this little idiot that I won!"

"No! Ace is being mean! I won!"

* * *

Sabo sighed, smacking a wing to his face, "You BOTH won, ok?"

They blinked, "Ok…" Ace said slowly. "But who did Better?"

Sabo started, and mulled over it. "Well…Ace did better in terms of experience…and Luffy, you did better in well…you are a good dancer for your first time."

"Humph, beginner's luck." Ace huffed.

"But overall, you both managed to entice with your dance moves…So…it's a tie."

Sabo said with as much confidence and finality as he could, so that they won't bicker with each other anymore.

"Wait." Ace paused, as a thought occurred to him. He turned to Sabo, a sly grin on his face, one that made Sabo take a step back.

"We managed to entice? So we enticed you, eh Sabo?"

"Um.." Sabo started to sweat bullets, his eyes darted left and right, hoping for an escape route.

* * *

His eyes widened when Luffy flanked Ace and started to step towards him too. He took another step back.

"A-Ace, L-Luffy…" His tone was warning and wary.

Geez, can't Ace keep his instincts in? He was giving Luffy a bad example!

"Come on Sabo," Ace practically crooned. "It was alluring wasn't it? Admit it, we managed to seduce you~"

Luffy giggled, "Shishishi~!"

"N-now, Ace, Luffy. The bet hasn't started yet, so you can't! Get a grip and let the bet and the season play out! Then, then you can start to-!"

"Yes, Sabo, but see, the bet hasn't started yet, so technically, I'm not bound by the set rules. So, I can do whatever I want."

The grin was practically devilish. Sabo was getting desperate; he was running out of options and damn, of all the times when Ace used that brain of his.

"No-now, wait just a minute-!"

He didn't get to finish his sentence when his brothers jumped at him.

"GYYYAAHHHHH!"

* * *

 **And done! I was wondering if I should change it such that they are like, humanoid bird hybrids that can change between their forms, and if I should make this part of a series of One Piece AUs involving the ASL brothers. Please tell me what you think~**

 **Please rate and review~~ 3**


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